Summit streak ceases

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After Friday's 65-54 loss to Delta, Summit sat at the bottom of the 4A Western Slope basketball standings with a 3-11 league record.

"Once again, we were in the ballgame and had three turnovers really late that cost us. It was another opportunity that we let slip by the wayside," Summit head coach Phil Tronsrue said.

Still, the team held onto hope that it could use the district tournament to its advantage.

Seeded No. 10, the team faced off with No. 7 Montrose - to no avail.

On Tuesday night on the road, the Tigers finished their season in a 53-31 loss in one of three district tournament pigtail games.

"We didn't play that well. We gave up an early lead to them," Tronsrue said, adding that Montrose had two guards, one of whom shot from the perimeter, sinking threes. The other dribbled toward the basket and when he couldn't make a shot, he dropped it off to the posts for easy baskets.

"We were down 15 at half and never could come back," Tronsrue said.

"Everyone's disappointed because we didn't play that great of a ball game," he added. "If you get beat playing your best game, you can't feel bad about yourself. But they didn't put forth their best game."

It was a long shot, but five or six teams go from district tournament to state playoffs where 40-some teams play, and Tronsrue thought his squad had a shot.

"There is an opportunity to finish within one of those five or six teams," he said before the game Tuesday.

Still, Tronsrue said it's been a good year.

"We've made strides. It's because of the seniors. They've laid a nice foundation. The underclassmen need to take that and build off it," Tronsrue said, adding that much of the team that remains when the seniors leave is sophomores. That means two years to develop into a strong team.